Leave of Absence
by x-menobsessed26
Summary: Rogue has moved on from the X-men, but when someone from her past tracks her down, she is confronted with old feelings. One-shot


**I wish I did, but I have no knowledge of how to write accents. This is my first attempt of accent writing. PLEASE critique it and help me get better!**

"So Ah'll see ya tomorrow!" Rogue called out behind her, waving and smiling to the old woman behind the counter of the small grocery store she worked in.

As the door closed behind her, she began to walk down the street in the Mississippi heat and, not for the first time, her mind wander states away, back to a place she had once thought she might have been able to call home. She shook her head, knowing she had been stupid and naive to think that there was ever a place she could have long term friends, be successful, and love life. She just lived.

She pulled her curly auburn and white hair into a high ponytail and continued walking, ignoring the sweat bead that ran down her back between her shoulder blades. She loved Mississippi. No matter where she went in life, she would always love Mississippi, especially towns like the one she was living in now.

She walked back to the house she was renting living space in from the same old woman back at the store, sweet old Maggie, and immediately walked over to the kitchen. She knew a cold beer was calling her name.

Deciding to make the most of the evening air, she took the drink, now covered in condensation, outside and sat on the porch of the typical, Southern style house. It was a huge house, but only Rogue rented room there. No one else liked to deal with Maggie and her nonsensical ways, but Rogue found her to be sweet and refreshing. The two had bonded almost instantly when they had met.

It had been an awkward meeting to say the least. Rogue, now referring to herself by a name she had tracked down of Anna Marie, had run away from New York, from the Xavier Institute, not wanting to deal with them and their overly optimistic ideals anymore. Free room and board isn't worth the cost Xavier was asking in her green eyes.

So one night, after secretly filling out the paperwork to drop out of high school, later earning her G.E.D. at 19, she had packed up the possessions she had earned over the two years she had been there and ran. It had felt good to be free, but after a few days on the road alone, it had begun to get terrifying.

Anna Marie had found her way down to Mississippi, knowing it was where she wanted to be, and had unceremoniously collided with a frail looking old woman. Keeping knowledge of her mutant powers, she had checked to make sure that none of her skin had been showing and helped the woman up. Maggie had simply smiled at her, something she learned the woman hardly ever did, and invited her in for an iced tea.

There, Maggie coaxed out of her the story of her current situation, with Anna Marie revealing that she was a mutant who couldn't be touched. In return, Maggie revealed that she was originally from the state of Michigan and had moved down to the South just because she had felt like it, and was now stuck with a gorgeous estate and few stores in the town she had to run. The woman had smiled again and told her she would learn control eventually.

Learn she had. Maggie had immediately offered residence in her home if the girl agreed to work in her grocery store, the only one in the small town. She had been there ever since, making a couple of friendly acquaintances who turned into friends after Rogue woke up one morning after battling migraines for a couple of days with the ability to now touch. She could now mentally flip the switch that turned her powers on.

Throughout the course of two years, not only did she develop the ability to touch again, but she developed secondary mutations giving her invulnerability, super strength, and, her personal favorite, the ability to fly. Of course, she had been told by Maggie that there were a couple of others, but Anna Marie used those three the most along with her signature touch.

Her personal style had also changed, due to her development. She had dressed in gothic attire to deter people from wanting to touch her, thus saving her much pain. After she learned control, she was able to start dressing like she'd wanted to with bright tank tops, jean shorts, and long hair, no longer straightened by product and cut by hate.

She looked like her personality now.

She set the brown bottle upon the porch and noticed with a start that it was already dark. Maggie hadn't come back yet, or she would have knocked Rogue upside the head for being in a daze. Rogue flew back to the store, rushing in, afraid of what might be awaiting her friend.

She saw Maggie talking to a customer well past closing time, which was completely untypical of the old woman. Maggie noticed Anna Marie with the tinkling of the bell above the door, "Ah! Anna! I'm sorry, girl. I was just talking this nice young man here and lost track of time."

"It's alright, sugah," she replied, letting her accent thicken over her words. "Ah was jus' gettin' worried."

"Don't be worried, child," she smiled. "I'm perfectly safe."

Anna Marie put her hands on her hips, "Now, jus' how do ya figure tha'?"

The man turned to her, "I wouldn't hurt a woman, Rogue. You know that."

She froze, "What did you jus' call me?"

"Rogue, but I guess that's not your name anymore, is it? Anna, I believe."

"Do Ah know you?"

The man tilted his head to the side, letting the light from the fluorescent blubs slide easily over his glasses, showing red. He smiled, "You used to."

Her heart skipped a beat, "Scott?"

His grin widened, "So you do remember?"

As a response, she shoved his chest a bit harder than she probably should have, which combined with her super strength sent him back a bit and into the wall and ran out the door, forgetting completely about her powers. Funny how that always seems to work out.

She heard the door open behind her, but kept running hard. She forgot that she was the one who had abandoned the X-men, and therefore their training, not Scott. He caught up with her easily, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into a alley. She shoved him again, lighter this time, "Le' go o' me!"

"Will you just listen before you run off again?" he asked her, begged her.

She glared emerald fire at him, "Why should I?"

He kissed her.

He didn't know why he did. He had just wanted to stop her from getting away again, not being able to think of a reason he knew she would think good enough at the time. Scott had just decided to act, and kissing seemed like a pretty good idea at the time.

He had forgotten, however, she had a built in security system for her body. He felt his energy being pulled out, blackness replacing the red, and fainted with a groan. She squeaked in shock, moaning after a moment of him inside her head, "Scott?"

Rogue, choosing her favorite name again, picked him up and flew him back to Maggie's house, where the old woman was waiting. She wouldn't have put it past the old woman to have seen this coming, the instigator.

"Help me!"

"I will, girl. Just give him some air first, okay? Oh! Don't blast anything, okay?"

She was confused for a moment and then remembered that she had absorbed Scott's powers too. Looking in the mirror, her eyes were glowing red, but they weren't blasting. She had the control Scott didn't have due to his brain injury. It was a sad realization.

She concentrated on not blasting anything while she sat with Scott. Maggie had checked him over, not seeing anything wrong with him other than having his life force drained. Maggie had gone to bed, tired out of her mind, but Rogue was suddenly very awake, running on the life force of an old friend.

Scott began to stir at dawn, groaning as his muscles felt as if they'd been trapped in the same position for weeks, just now deciding to move. Rogue jumped up, "Scott?"

He smiled softly at her, "Sorry?"

"Don't! It should be me apologizin' to you," she sighed. "Though Ah do have to re'rimand you fo' your damn stupidity. You know 'bout my powers."

"Ah, but Maggie informed me of your recent control," he stretched, sitting up.

"Is tha' why you stayed long enough to talk to me?" she whispered, so softly he almost missed it.

Scott chuckled darkly, "Hardly."

"Then why are you here?" she said angrily. "You know why Ah left!"

"Actually, I don't," he proclaimed. "None of us knew why you had left. We woke up one morning, waiting for you to come downstairs and join us to a Danger Room session. You never showed. We knew after practice what you must have done, but it made no sense to us why you had done it."

Rogue groaned, "Ah was frustrated. Ah was tired. Ah wanted out!"

"You couldn't have told us first? Let us say good-bye?" his voice cracked.

She paused and then asked softly, "Why does this mattah to yuh so much? It's not lahke we were close friends or anythin'."

"I thought we were."

They were drenched in silence, covered so fully it weighed upon them like a million weights. Tears were unknowingly making their way down Rogue's face. Scott slowly reached up through the dragging waters of emotional distance and brought his hand softly to her face, brushing the rushing streams from her rosy cheeks. He smiled at her again, "Did you know your accent gets thicker when you're pissed?"

She smiled back, "You never answered my question."

"I wasn't lying when I told you that people missed you, Rogue. Kurt and Kitty were both devastated when you disappeared, both wanting to follow you, neither able to merely accept that you had abandoned them. Logan had also been distressed. The man looked at you like a daughter, remember? What do you think your abandonment did to him?"

Rogue began to cry again, harder this time. She had thought time and time again of them, sometimes wanting to go back just to tell them that she still loved them, "Stop it."

He pulled her into his chest so she could be close to someone for once and continued, "Charles thought he had failed, taking the responsibility for your running away. Ororo saw you as a daughter, just as she saw everyone else. You may not have been particularly close to either one, but did they ever lie to you or steer you wrong?"

"Stop!"

"The New Mutants all knew you, were close to you. You were a big sister to them, and you deserted the Institute, leaving them without a sibling."

"Please! Stop!"

"You had been making progress with Jean. She thought she had driven you away, trying to get close to you, though the rest of us knew that wasn't the case. She was miserable."

"STOP IT!"

He pulled back, quickly grabbing Rogue's sobbing shoulders and staring into her eyes as well as he could through his red lenses, "Do you have any idea what you did to me? ME?! I loved you, Rogue. When Jean and I broke up, it was because we knew our interests belonged elsewhere, hers with Sam, mine with you. The others have moved on by now, still feeling your loss every once in awhile, but moving on was possible after the years. Not for me. I couldn't forget. I had to find you, tell you."

"You can'!" Rogue sobbed.

Scott kissed her forehead, pulling her back into his chest, "I can. I do. I always will."

She threw her arms around the neck of her crush from adolescence and kissed him without abandon. He responded eagerly, holding her tightly and moving his lips against hers. Somewhere along the line, they'd fallen together on the couch, kissing like school children, but with a more mature purpose behind it all.

Scott pulled back with a grin, "Does this mean you don't hate me?"

"Does it feel like Ah hate you?" she asked with an equal grin, kissing him again.

He pushed on her chest so she was laying on her back with him over her, "So what do I call you now?"

She thought for a moment, "Whatevah you feel like, sugah."

Scott kissed her again, more urgently this time, and hands began to wander. His lips soon followed the same pattern, running along the length of her neck. She moaned loudly, causing him to chuckle against her tanned skin.

"Would you keep it down? Some of us like to sleep, girl," Maggie's voice announced from the top of the staircase.

Anna Marie blushed the color of strawberries as Scott laughed out loud, "Sorry, Maggie."

Scott pecked her again, "So, will you come back?"

"Ah...no."

Scott sat back, "Why not?"

"Ah love you, Scott, don't get me wrong, but..." she paused for a moment. "Ah love my life here too. Ah owe Maggie so much and I jus' don't want to leave."

He thought for a moment and then smiled, "Do you think Maggie would mind if I asked to move in here?"

"No, I certainly wouldn't mind," Maggie shouted from the stairs.

Anna Marie rolled her eyes, "Thanks Maggie."

"You're welcome, girl."

"Wait!" she shouted, grabbing his hands. "Does that mean what Ah think it means?"

"If you mean 'does it mean I want to be with you even if you won't join the X-men again?', yes. I love you, Anna, and I don't want to lose you again."

* * *

"Welcome back, Rogue," Charles greeted the young woman.

She smiled shyly, "Ah'm sorry, Professor, for leaving like that. I jus' couldn't deal with-"

"It's fine, Rogue. You are always welcome here," Charles turned back to his favorite student. "How did you happen to find her?"

Scott smiled at his girlfriend, "I'm not exactly sure."

"ROGUE!"

She was thrown off her feet, nearly crashing into the wall behind her as a brunette crashed into her, tackling her in a bone-crushing hug. The air left her lungs when her back hit the floor and she gasped, "Hi, Kitty."

The younger girl cried, "We missed you so much!"

"Let her breaze, Kitty!" Kurt grinned from where he ported in front of them.

Kitty stood, helping Anna Marie up, "I'm so sorry! I just missed you!"

"Ah know, Kitty. Ah just lahke livin'," she laughed.

"And we all know Kitty is tryin' to kill us all, aren't ya Half-Pint?"

Kitty blushed, but Anna Marie turned toward the familiar voice, eventually launching herself at him, "Logan!"

"Hey, Kid," the gruff man laughed. "Long time, no see."

She whispered in his ear, so no one else could hear, "Ah'm so sorry, Logan. Ah didn't mean to leave yuh."

"It's alright, Kid. I forgive ya," he hugged her back, then letting her go.

"You had a bunch of us worried, Rogue," Jean said, grinning at her.

Anna Marie gave the redhead a hug, "It wasn't 'cause o' you Ah left, Red. You ain't that special."

Jean laughed, "Oh, yes, I've missed your unique brand of charm."

"Everyone did," Sam announced, stepping forward to grab Jean's hand, looking very unlike the gangly teen he had been, but a man.

"But you're here for now. Are you planning on staying or going back?"

She blushed, "Ah was thinkin' that this was jus' a visit."

"Then we will enjoy what we have been given," Ororo smiled at her. "Like your being gone was just a leave of absence."

Her eyes connected with Scott's, "Works for me."

**What'cha think? Please review and let me know!**


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